Answer to last chapter's title: First word of "Face My Fears" by Utada Hikaru
Alright I didn't expect to write a 10k word chapter, but I got to where I wanted to leave off on. We knocked off the first three episodes of Volume 1 and now is the time to cover the time at Beacon. It admittedly took a few MONTHS to write the first chapter due to on-and-off writing, but the last third (Sora on the air transport and Charlemagne's introduction) was knocked down within a week. I expect my chapters to be on average longer than the chapters from my previous story but probably not as long as the first chapter. With that being said, let's continue…
Ch.2 - Should I Take the Leap
Sora opened his eyes as he saw the morning rays shine through the windows. He sat up for a few seconds to stare at nothing before having a big yawn. "Ugh, a few more minutes…", as he went to lay back down. That was until he suddenly saw the face of Charlemagne looking down on him.
A surprised Sora did not expect to see him there, so he jumped. "Woah!"
"Haha, I didn't take you to be a lazy slouch, Sora." Charlemagne jokingly said as he resumed packing up his sleeping bag. Meanwhile, Sora had a feeling of deja vu.
"What's the current time?"
"Hmm, lemme check my Scroll… it's about 8 am right now. So we have around 2 hours until the Initiation begins. I already brushed my teeth, so I'll wait for you to do the same so we can eat breakfast together!"
Sora nodded, "That sounds like a plan!"
For the next couple of hours, Sora first went to the bathroom in order to tidy himself up. After that he rejoined Charlemagne to go eat breakfast. Charlemagne told Sora that Jaune was already at the dining hall, so by the time they arrived Jaune was already sitting at table while saving two spots for them. The dining hall food was comparable to restaurant food admittedly. If one wants to consume enough energy and nutrients to feel great throughout the day, then the dining hall staff was doing their job well… especially for the orange-haired girl who has been constantly rambling to the man with a magenta highlight ever since Sora began getting ready for the day. All those pancakes with syrup are definitely gonna keep her on her toes. After breakfast, the boys went to the locker room to gear up. Jaune had to go find his locker separate from the others, but they soon found him being quite lost.
"I hope Jaune finds his locker before we are called in. By the way, I find it cool that you can just call your locker from any location and it flies to you like a rocket." Sora said while putting on his jacket.
"For a school to train fighters, I guess you always have to be prepared for unexpected confrontations." Charlemagne fastened the sheathe on his person before closing the locker door. "So since teams are being decided based on what happens during Initiation, you down to meet up with one another and team up?"
With a smirk, Sora held his hand out for a bro handshake. "I'm game!"
"Then it is decided!" Charlemagne returned the handshake. After that, they noticed Jaune trying to strike up a conversation with Weiss again and it looked to be failing like last time. There was another girl in that conversation, a certain red-haired Spartan-themed student.
"Woah! That's Pyrrha Nikos the 'Invincible Girl', winner of the Mistral Regional Tournament four consecutive times! She attends this place too? Talk about awesome company!" Her title cannot be understated. Charlemagne has witnessed what Pyrrha can do on TV, and her combat prowess can make the average Huntsman look amateurish.
Sora, of course, did not know much about other continents so he had to guess that Pyrrha was very famous throughout Remnant. "I believe I saw her on a cereal box." He then saw that Ruby and Yang were nearby, watching the exchange too. The two sisters saw Sora and Charlemagne approach them as all four of them together soon watched the scene play on.
"Yeesh, Weiss giving Jaune that harsh treatment for not knowing who Pyrrha is. I get she's famous and all, but Weiss is practically worshipping her like a goddess." Yang watched Jaune visibly deflate.
"Actually, Jaune, I think you will make a great leader!" Pyrrha complimented Jaune.
"D'oh, stop it!"
"Seriously, please stop it. This kind of behavior should not be encouraged!" Weiss angrily said.
"Woah, did Jaune just finesse Pyrrha? Mad props to that guy." That was something Charlemagne respected.
"Sounds like Pyrrha's on board for Team Jaune. Spots are filling up quick! Now, I'm not supposed to do this, but maybe I could pull some strings, find a place for you. What do you say?" Jaune told Weiss as he started moving a lot closer to Weiss.
"Now he's getting uncomfortably near Weiss." Ruby said while cringing.
"Someone should probably do something before this gets way too out of hand." Sora mentioned, but saw that Pyrrha was already on the job. She launched her spear towards Jaune, which propelled him towards a locker via clipping his hood. He ended up hanging from the locker and soon after the intercom system activated.
"Would all first-year students please report to Beacon Cliff for initiation? Again, all first-year students report to Beacon Cliff immediately."
"It was nice meeting you!" Pyrrha said as she retrieved Milo and Jaune fell to the ground, muttering "likewise." Having seen it all from a distance, the four observers finally approached Jaune.
"Having trouble there, lady killer?" Sora asked.
"I don't understand. My dad said all women look for is confidence! Where did I go wrong?" Jaune complained as he took Ruby's offered hand and got up.
"Maybe 'Snow Angel' wasn't the best start." Yang suggested as Charlemagne was trying to hold in a laugh.
"Come on, Jaune, let's go." Ruby said, supporting Jaune as the group walked towards Beacon Cliff.
The first-year Beacon students filed onto the cliffside overlooking the Emerald Forest. From the airship transports yesterday, they flew over some of the Emerald Forest and got to see the massive scope of it. Now that they are looking at it from a more leveled perspective, it stretched out considerably far; a sea of emerald like the name implies. It looks like they will have to go inside in order to participate in the Initiation.
Wondering how they would be transported into the forest, Sora scoped the area. There weren't any signs of nearby airships that could drop them down, nor any signs of equipment such as parachutes that would allow them to touch down safely. Quite frankly, there were just metal tiles lined up next to each other as each student occupied one tile. Their group of five were at the end of the line, Sora being the very last. He stepped on the tile and immediately felt the tile slightly decline under his weight; like it was being held by a spring mechanism. Sora soon connected the dots.
"Oh, it's gonna be like that, is it?"
Well a landing strategy was in the works. If he wasn't obligated to hide his true power, then Sora can easily just take the fall at the cost of leaving a crater on the ground. He has fallen from much greater heights, but he must blend in. Sora was taken out of his thoughts when Ozpin started speaking.
"For years, you have trained to become warriors, and today, your abilities will be evaluated in the Emerald Forest."
"Now, I'm sure many of you have heard rumors about the assignment of 'teams.' Well, allow us to put an end to your confusion. Each of you will be given teammates... today." Glynda added.
"These teammates will be with you for the rest of your time here at Beacon. So it is in your best interest to be paired with someone with whom you can work well. That being said, the first person you make eye contact with after landing will be your partner for the next four years." Ozpin stated.
From the corner of his vision, Sora saw Ruby's world shatter around her as well as the orange-haired girl saying "See! I told you!" to her friend. He took a glance at Charlemagne with a look that said "What should we do?"
Charlemagne leaned into Sora's ear after he hatched a plan and whispered it to him.
Ozpin continued talking, "After you've partnered up, make your way to the northern end of the forest. You will meet opposition along the way. Do not hesitate to destroy everything in your path... or you will die. You will be monitored and graded through the duration of your initiation, but our instructors will not intervene. You will find an abandoned temple at the end of the path containing several relics. Each pair must choose one and return to the top of the cliff. We will regard that item, as well as your standing, and grade you appropriately. Are there any questions? Good, now take your positions." The Headmaster ignored Jaune raising his hand.
All the students except for Jaune fell into combat stances. Sora summoned Kingdom Key and crouched slightly with the Keyblade extended out to the side with one-hand. Charlemagne drew out a serrated blue and silver longsword from his sheathe and held it vertically in front of his face, but slightly angled so he could see in front of him. One by one, students were being launched.
"So, this landing... strategy thing... Uh, wha-what is it? You're, like, dropping us off or something?" Jaune asked meekly.
Amused by this, Ozpin replied, "No, you will be falling using your own landing strategy."
"Uh-huh, yeah… What exactly is this landing strategYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!"
Only the two boys remained. Ozpin looked at the two for a moment before nodding his head, then both boys were launched at the same time. He watched the flying students as he took a sip from his mug of hot cocoa. Meanwhile, Glynda was looking at her Scroll pad, watching the live footage of each student. He laid her eyes on the ones of Sora and Charlemagne before being reminded of something.
"You do realize that with your admission of Sora and Mr. Magnus' rather last-minute addition, we have two extra students who will not be a part of a full team."
"Yet it seems they wouldn't need one. There's more to Sora and Charlemagne Magnus than meets the eye."
Glynda looked confused, "What do you exactly mean by that," there was a slight pause when her eyes widened a bit, "are you telling me that those two kids—"
Ozpin looked Glynda straight into the eyes. "I know magic when I see it. Lifetimes upon lifetimes have taught me to discern Semblance and Dust from true magic. From what Sora has shown that night of the Dust store robbery and from footage of duels Mr. Magnus has had, there is no mistaking it. And this is why I believe we can slightly alter the rules a bit."
"Are you suggesting a team with just two of them? I don't believe that has ever been done before."
"The potency of magic cannot be underestimated, even when they are holding back. With just two of them on a team of their own, they can still be one of the best teams, if not the best, in Beacon history. I call into question their origin stories, but right now I believe they will be invaluable assets to our true cause; more than just mere pawns on the chess board. They seem like good kids." Ozpin said while gripping his cane a bit harder. Glynda stayed silent as she turned her attention to the Emerald Forest, specifically the direction where Sora and Charlemagne went.
So that's why Ozpin decided to include an extra chess piece at the very last minute.
The soaring students began dispersing as they started performing their landing strategies. However, being the two to be launched at the same time, Sora and Charlemagne had similar trajectories yet there was still some distance between them.
"Oi! Sora, now!" Charlemagne held out his free hand before a blue winged, javelin-like weapon appeared floating alongside Charlemagne.
"Right!" Sora activated Flowmotion and kicked off the air, using air pressure to propel him to the winged javelin as he grabbed it by the handle. The javelin followed Charlemagne, which meant Sora was going where Charlemagne was falling. As they found themselves heading towards a clearing next to a hill, Charlemagne had his right arm across his body, sword behind his head. Right as they were relatively close to the ground, Charlemagne did a horizontal swing towards the ground and a torrent of wind was released, slowing down his fall. As Charlemagne made for a landing, Sora leapt from the javelin onto a tree branch. He did a few loops with Flowmotion before jumping to the hillside, it being steep enough for Sora to slide down and make a roll once at the bottom. The two boys then looked one another in the eyes, confirming that they are now teammates.
"Hey, I think I saw what might be the temple about that way," Sora pointed towards the direction he saw it. "I think we should be able to get there in about an hour."
"By all means, lead the way." The boys began walking, but Charlemagne had to express his hype.
"Wooo! I'm glad to see that my idea worked out so well!" Charlemagne cheered. "With the two of us together, we will be kicking ass like no tomorrow!"
Sora had a chuckle with Charlemagne's antics and his way of phrasing things at times. "Seeing that we are now officially teammates, I think it's a good time to tell me a bit about your weapons and Semblance, Charlie."
"I guess that's fair!" Charlemagne accepted Sora's suggestion as he held up his sword. "This is my sword, Joyeuse. This sword is imbued with multiple Dust crystals within the blade, hence how I can call upon the elements such as that gust of wind I conjured. As for my Semblance, it's a once-in-a-generation hereditary Semblance named "Holy Knight Emperor" that allows me to summon the family heirlooms such as the javelin. I actually have potential to access more copies of the javelin, but I can really only conjure up to four of them right now." Charlemagne called upon the javelin he used earlier and a red/black counterpart also appeared before he dismissed them both. "They can also shoot Aura lasers!"
"Lasers? That's pretty nifty. And how many copies are there of these javelins?"
"Hmm, I believe six of the reds and six of the blues, so twelve in total existed."
"T-twelve?!" Sora exclaimed, "that's nuts!"
"I know right! Someday, I will master the ability to use 'em all! Another heirloom is this cool-looking lance..."
While the two were geeking out about the weapons Charlemagne has and can have in his disposal, they didn't notice a Grimm stalk them from behind. Appearing like an undead werewolf from Hell, the Beowolf used their distraction as an opportunity to pounce. It cleared the distance in a relatively short amount of time as the Beowolf was now behind the two, ready to tear them apart. The surprise attack succeeded… in failing to succeed since the Beowolf was surprised itself to find a javelin suddenly fired onto its side as it flew into a tree. As the javelin disappeared, so too did the Beowolf in black dust.
"I think we might've found ourselves in Grimm territory." Sora said cautiously as he got in a battle stance, as Charlemagne got in his own stance. True to his words, a circle of Beowolves surrounded the boys. Their bloodthirsty eyes were fixed on them, eagerly waiting to make them suffer yet it did not faze the impassive eyes of the two boys. If anything, people would say that they expected a lot more. Sora turned his head towards Charlemagne, "Hey Charlie. To make this more interesting, let's see how many Grimm we can each exterminate and determine who exterminated more by the end of this fight?"
"A bet?" Charlemagne couldn't help but smile. "What are the stakes?"
"Uhh… a sense of accomplishment? I didn't really think that part through."
"Meh, fine by me."
With that being said, they both launched themselves at a different Beowolf and started to clean house. The Grimm weren't expecting their speed, so the Grimm on Sora's end had a second to process Sora flash-stepping one of their brethren. Meanwhile this was Sora's first time fighting the Grimm. As he made to defeat a few more, he made some comparisons to the Heartless. He did read a book about common Grimm types and although individual Grimm have the potential for a lot more intelligence than Heartless, Heartless were more dangerous in vast quantities and with their plethora of variants with different degrees of power. Blocking and countering another Beowolf, Sora rolled away from a stray claw aimed for his face. The claw hit an unsuspecting Beowolf as Sora used this moment of their confusion to bisect both of those Beowolves. Sora leapt onto a tree branch to see how much Grimm was remaining and also to see how Charlemagne was doing.
Sora had to say, he was impressed. Charlemagne displayed a level of swordsmanship even rivaling some of the best swordsmen he's met over the past few years. He flowed through the crowd of Beowolves like water. As he leapt into the air, he dove to cleanly decapitate a Beowolf. He didn't waste a moment as he was already upon another one and made a thrust to stab it. Once he released Joyeuse from the corpse, Charlemagne quickly struck down a Grimm behind him with an overhead swing. From that, four Beowolves quickly replaced it, all coming in like a black wave of maliciousness. Undeterred, Charlemagne prepped for a wide horizontal swing. Sora saw some embers build up on the blade and soon saw a horizontal arc of flame once Charlemagne completed his attack. The black dust of the Grimm was what remained. Content with the showcase, Sora went back with dispatching his half of Grimm. A few minutes later, the last Grimm dispersed as the two boys regrouped, both of which haven't even broken a sweat.
"Well there's that. How much Grimm did you defeat?" Sora asked as he rested Kingdom Key on his shoulders.
"25, how about you?" Charlemagne put Joyeuse back into the sheathe.
Sora threw his hands in the air as he desummoned Kingdom Key, "Yes! 27 defeated!"
"Gahh! I think if I pushed myself a bit more, I could've beaten your number! But still, you did great. I saw glimpses of you in action and you really lived up to that video."
"Same for you! I thought for a moment that you were dancing with that sword."
"Hehe, I guess we are both really cut out for this program. Let's continue on, shall we?" The boys then continued on to the temple.
Back on Beacon Cliff, Ozpin and Glynda watched the camera footage of Sora and Charlemagne fighting the pack of Beowolves. "It looks like you got what you wanted. Sora and Mr. Magnus are the last pair to be formed, and from what I just saw from each of them was at least at the level of a fourth-year student. When the boys do get to the temple, I'll activate the switch that will expose the chess piece allocated for them." Glynda stated as she pushed her glasses up as Ozpin looked back at the Emerald Forest. Glynda walked forward to be beside her boss. "Tell me, Ozpin. What do you think of those boys?"
Taking a sip of his mug, Ozpin contemplated for a bit before responding, "I was always skeptical of the backgrounds that they provided. By no means would a person from an isolated island within Grimm territory manage to find their way here without being transported by a sufficiently armed aircraft or ship. As for Mr. Magnus, a family with as much prestige as the Magnus family should have a rich history recorded generations ago. This includes the fact that they reside in the Kingdom of Atlas where all prestigious families date back centuries. Yet, the Magnus family got to where they're at in the span of five years. Before that, no history at all."
"Despite all of that, you willingly took the two boys in while you knew that their backgrounds might not be all truth. I can see from their combat prowess that they may prove invaluable, but what makes you trust them so much?"
"This old wizard has learned to see through the intents of many from living this long." Ozpin chuckled as he later became serious. "Charlemagne seems to hold a lot more wisdom then he shows and his moral compass leans towards what is right and to bring wellbeing to those around him. Quite fitting for a benevolent king. As for Sora… from what I saw from the "meteorite", that light... I'm sure that it is his light."
"The God of Light?"
"The very same. I cannot mistaken the light that came from the being responsible for giving me these chances for any other light. His love for humanity might warrant him to send extra help, but that is something we will take in order to defeat the Queen."
Ozpin tightened his hold on his cane. "To defeat Salem."
About an hour has passed and Sora and Charlemagne have finally made it to the temple. They made their way around the temple to observe the objects that were on pedestals.
"Chess pieces?" Charlemagne said curiously as he examined a gold rook. Some of the pedestals were missing a piece, signifying that they weren't the first ones here. The ground around the temple shook a tiny bit as they felt the rumbling at the center of the temple. Both students turned their attention towards the center as a small opening appeared with another pedestal coming from it. Like all the other pedestals, this one also had a chess piece albeit it was much different from all the other ones. Not only was it the only king piece, but it was carved from polish opal. It refracted the sunlight of the noon sun, causing it to shine the spectrum of the rainbow all over the surface. They were so mesmerized by the piece that Charlemagne had to snap out of it and cough to get Sora's attention. "Welll, u-um, that did appear as soon as we got here."
"Soooo I guess this one is meant for us then." Sora made to approach the piece before looking at Charlemagne for approval. The black/white haired man shrugged before making a face that said "I guess so." Slowly making his way to the pedestal, Sora grabbed the king piece tentatively before examining it in his hands. Soon after, the pedestal went back into the ground and the opening closed up. "Now that we got ahold of a relic, we make our way back to the top of the cliff. Oh wait, isn't that Yang and Blake?"
From the nearby shrubbery, the pair of girls walked out to observe the temple. Yang was the first to speak. "Think this is it?", she asked before noticing the two who got there shortly before them, "Oh hey boys! How long have you been here?"
"We just got here a minute ago! I guess we aren't the first ones here!" Sora said as he motioned towards the chess pieces.
"Chess pieces?" asked a confused Blake as she looked at a black king. She then sensed someone walk towards her to see the other boy present, probably Sora's partner.
"Hey, you are Blake right? You've already met Sora but I haven't gotten to introduce myself yet since I fell asleep at that time. My name is Charlemagne Magnus, but call me Charlie, alright?" Charlemagne said while pointing a thumb to himself.
Blake perked up a bit. "Charlemagne Magnus? As in the royal Magnus family of Atlas? So I'm guessing you are the son of a major zealous figure who strives to make every Human and Faunus equal in the name of his religion?"
Charlemagne laughed with a bit of embarrassment, "Yeah, the very same man."
This got Yang intrigued. "Royal family, huh? I guess you are like Lil' Princess Weiss Schnee then."
"Yeah, I'm technically royalty. But it's sorta a heavy thing to bear once you've been exposed to it for a while. Being in the limelight as your personal life becomes more public, having responsibilities pushed into your arms. That's one of the reasons why I tell people to call me 'Charlie'; to call me by a relatively normal name so I can be just like you guys."
"Well now that you've said all of that, I find it better that you wanna stay normal. I respect that, Charlie." Yang responded with a thumbs up, which got a smile from Charlemagne. The blond walked around until stopping in front of one piece, "How about a cute lil pony?" That got a confirmation from Blake as Yang took the gold knight piece, content with how relatively easy it was to get here. Suddenly, a scream was heard.
"Some girl's in trouble! Do you guys hear that?"
Sora crossed his arms, "I don't think that was a girl, Yang."
While they were focused on the identity of the scream, Charlemagne and Blake noticed something falling in the air. "Hey isn't that… Ruby?"
"HEEAADDDSSS UUUUPPPPPP!" Ruby yelled as she fell towards the ground. Charlemagne ran to approximately where she was going to land and summoned a javelin. He grabbed it by the handle and the javelin swung him up into the air, letting him reach Ruby and grab her. All seemed well until Jaune came flying out of nowhere and hurtling towards them. Luckily, Sora came in with Flowmotion active and caught Jaune before a collision happened. All of them landed on the floor safely as Charlemagne set Ruby down and Sora released his grip on Jaune's back.
"Did your sister just fall from the sky?" Blake asked Yang.
"I—"
"YEE HAWW!" An Ursa suddenly emerged from the woods with the orange haired girl riding on its back. It continued struggling until pink smoke emitted from its backside, slumping as the girl rolled off. "Awww… it's broken," she said dejectedly. Her partner later caught up with her, clearly out of breath.
"Nora! Please… never do that again." His words fell on deaf ears as Nora zipped to one of the pedestals to grab a gold rook piece.
"I'm queen of the castle! I'm queen of the castle!"
"NORA!"
"Coming, Ren!"
"Did that girl just ride on an Ursa?"
"I—"
A screech interrupted her as a giant scorpion Grimm bursted into the scene, tailing a very urgent Pyrrha. "Jaune!"
"Pyrrha!"
Regaining her bearings after the fall, Ruby was wide-eyed seeing the giant Grimm as she ran back with the group. "Woah!"
"Ruby!"
"Yang!" Ruby tried going in for a hug, but was interrupted when Nora came between them. "Nora!"
"What is going on right now? I'm lost." Sora said as he was watching all the mayhem.
"Did she just run all the way here with a Death Stalker on her tail?"
That was the final straw for Yang as she ignited in flames and with red eyes. "I can't take it anymore! Can everyone just chill out for two seconds before something crazy happens again?!"
A few seconds of silence had passed as the Death Stalker continued to chase Pyrrha in the distance. Looking around, Ruby seemed like she was looking for someone. "Weiss should be here by now," she said unbeknownst to what was above their heads, until Charlemagne pointed it out. "I think your partner is up there…"
Lo' and behold, Weiss was hanging by the claws of a Nevermore for dear life. "I can't believe you just left me here!"
"I told you to jump!"
"She's gonna fall."
"She'll be fine."
"She's falling." Weiss began a free-fall towards the ground, but Jaune had already climbed up a tree when they first saw the Nevermore and already leapt off to save Weiss.
"Well Jaune is playing the knight in shining armor this time. Let's see how Act 3 will play out," Charlemagne said. He wasn't surprised to see Jaune momentarily forget that gravity existed as he panicked while having Weiss in his arms. The man landed roughly on the ground and soon after, Weiss right on his back. "Ouch…"
"My hero."
"My back…"
As everyone got together, Pyrrha was knocked over by the Death Stalker and landed near the group.
Yang exclaimed, "Great, now we can all die together!"
"Not if I can help it!" Ruby then charged at the Death Stalker with a war cry.
"Ruby, wait!"
Ruby, still screaming, fires Crescent Rose and charges at the oncoming Death Stalker. When the two meet, the Grimm swipes Ruby away and she is knocked back. "D-d-don't worry, I'm fine!" She shot at the Grimm before making an attempt to regroup, the Grimm on her tail.
"This is bad!" Both Sora and Charlemagne rushed towards Ruby, but noticed the Nevermore began raining down razor-sharp feathers. The hail of feathers fell mainly between the boys and Ruby as the girl was forced to halt and the boys resorted to deflecting and avoiding some feathers.
"Ruby!" The girl looked back at the Death Stalker, seeing the stinger primed to skewer her. As the boys finally made an opening, they were about to rush to Ruby until a white blur sped past them.
"You are so childish!"
Ruby opened her eyes to see the Death Stalker's stinger encased in ice courtesy of Weiss, who continued to berate her. "And dim-witted, and hyperactive, and don't even get me started on your fighting style. And I suppose I can be a bit... difficult... but if we're going to do this, we're going to have to do this together. So if you quit trying to show off, I'll be... nicer."
"I'm not trying to show off. I want you to know I can do this." Ruby responded.
"You're fine," Weiss said as she walked away. Ruby followed mumbling "normal knees."
"I'm so happy that you're safe!" Yang went to hug Ruby, squeezing the air out of her.
"I think she was safe before you cut off her oxygen supply," said Charlemagne.
Jaune had his head to the sky as he noticed the Nevermore starting to circle back. "Guy? The thing is circling back, what do we do?"
"Well, the objective is over there," Weiss gestured towards the relics, "we can try to avoid anymore confrontation."
"Weiss is righ—" Ruby was interrupted by the sound of breaking ice. The Death Stalker managed to pry its stinger out of Weiss' ice, now becoming more agitated that it wasn't able to kill Ruby that time.
"I don't see a way we can avoid a fight now. Outrunning both of them is most definitely not possible." Sora got into a combat stance. He observed the Nevermore flying around as well as the Death Stalker slowly creeping its way towards the group. That's when he noticed that a bit of ice was still on the stinger and that the area around the stinger looked a bit more brittle than before, maybe from the coldness of the ice and the Death Stalker's struggling. Sora began formulating a plan.
"The pairs that haven't retrieved a relic yet, go do them. After that, people who can easily run and shoot follow me while those who can face the Deathstalker head-on keep that thing busy!" Sora said as he began to dig into his pocket for a certain Keychain. Ruby grabbed a gold knight while Jaune grabbed a gold rook piece. Having found the one ideal for this situation, Sora took out the Keychain for Kingdom Key and swapped it for one with a silver star with a glimmering purple center. The Keyblade shone before transitioning into a different shape. The blade became wider as the color turned into a cascade of yellow, blue, and purple streams. At the rounded-end was a star. Shooting Star flourished and was at the ready.
"Let's do this!" Sora ran towards the direction of the Nevermore, followed by Ren, Blake, Weiss, and Ruby. The group that ran towards the Death Stalker was Charlemagne, Yang, Pyrrha, Nora, and Jaune.
Both groups started to confront their respective Grimm. The Nevermore group began to run in a set circle, half of them running clockwise while the other half counter-clockwise as they were strafing the Nevermore from multiple directions. Hails of feathers came down in multiple directions, but the feathers accumulated and started to encircle the Death Stalker. Those fighting the Deathstalker were relatively keeping it in one spot, noticing what the other group was going for. Once the Deathstalker had no openings to get out of, Sora began to put things in motion.
"Blake, Weiss! Give me a boost!" Sora ran towards the Nevermore while Blake prepped Gambol Shroud into its sickle form before throwing it. Sora caught Gambol Shroud before allowing Blake to grab the ribbon and spin him around before he released it. As he was flying towards the Grimm, Weiss summoned a Glyph to give Sora a boost. Powering up, Sora's clothes changed into a dark blue color while his pants had stars imprinted on them. But not only that, Shooting Star extended out before splitting into two parts, as Sora now had an arrow-gun in each hand.
Sora began shooting the Nevermore's eyes in attempts to blind it. The barrage of bullets prevented the Nevermore from having a clear vision as it began to fly blind. Well placed shots by Ruby and Ren to the wings caused the Nevermore to lose altitude. Glyphs were summoned to redirect the Nevermore towards the Death Stalker.
Back with the Death Stalker group, they made sure the Death Stalker was now in an enclosed space. The Death Stalker lashed out with its stinger, but Jaune was ready and shielded the blow, holding the stinger at bay.
"Pyrrha! Now's the chance!" The red-head threw Akoúo̱ with precision as it aimed for the weakened area around the stinger. When the shield cleanly sliced the stinger off, Jaune was ready for the next step. "Yang!"
As the stinger was still in the air, the brawler ran up and with built-up power, punched the stinger even higher into the air, shooting a shotgun round to boost it even further. Missing a stinger, the Grimm made an attempt to push the students back with the pincers but was met with two winged-javelins holding one pincer back as well as Yang holding off the other. By this time the Nevermore was heading straight for the Death Stalker. The two groups regrouped as Sora, who was still on the Nevermore, jumped off the avian Grimm before it dive-bombed the scorpion Grimm. Luckily, the encirclement was big enough for no students to be caught in the crash. Weiss and Charlemagne, with both blades shimmering with cold Aura, stabbed the area around the Grimm and ensnared them with ice.
"Nora!" Ren called while holding his Aura-covered hands.
"Coming, Renny!" She ran towards him as she leapt on his hands. Ren then used his power to heave Nora up, successfully vaulting her. Nora giggled in the air and by the apex of her flight noticed the Death Stalker's stinger falling near her, perfectly aligned above the Nevermore and Death Stalker's head. With a devilish grin, Nora waited for the stinger to reach her level before slamming it down with Magnhild. The stinger soared true and pierced both heads of the Grimm. And for good measure, Charlemagne called upon a gray mace with a blue/white shaft to further drive the stinger in while Ruby blitzed in with a trail of roses as she caught the neck of the Nevermore with her scythe. One sniper round had enough recoil to carry the scythe through and decapitate the bird. Ruby zipped back to rejoin the group as both Grimm dispersed.
"We did it!" Ruby cheered. Everyone began giving each other compliments on their contributions. Charlemagne was still at the spot where the Grimm dispersed as he sat on the ground to relax for a bit.
The two teachers in the cliff watched the entire fight with the security footage. They couldn't help but be impressed by the students who managed to fight two large Grimm with not only a good amount of coordination, but with speed as well. For a group of first years, their battle was relatively short.
"Well that was a level of coordination I have not seen since Team STRQ," Ozpin had a look of reminiscence. He also had no doubt in his mind that because Sora and Charlemagne were included, the fight became easier.
"I believe those were the two major Grimm within the general Initiation grounds, so coming back here should be enough." Glynda reported as she accounted for all groups in the Initiation. But fate wouldn't make it easy for anyone as an alert suddenly blared on the Scroll.
"More Grimm detected? No, one Grimm with a big signature?!" A panicked Glynda hooked up to the cameras within the massive surge. What both teachers saw sent chills down their spines. The Grimm was mildly larger than the Death Stalker that was just defeated. It had the appearance of a shadowy panther, yet its legs and paws were covered in bone scales and dagger-like spikes running along its spine all the way to the tip of its finned tail. The red eyes screamed for carnage as it began sprinting towards the relic temple.
"A Mishipeshu?!" Ozpin could not believe such a Grimm was able to get in here unnoticed. By the looks of it, the Mishipeshu was still quite young, but that's the scary part. A young Mishipeshu is still dangerous for even a group of Huntsmen to deal with, but dealing with the more mature ones and the Alphas required exceptional Huntsmen… and regardless, Mishipeshu encounters have a less than favorable mortality rate. Yet at the same time, Ozpin had a feeling the students didn't need additional help.
"We need to send backup now!"
"Glynda, I know the dangers of even an adolescent Mishipeshu… but I think it's going to be ok."
"What?!" Glynda was shocked by Ozpin's decision. She has had a few encounters with Mishipeshu before, and they were some of the most memory-imprinting fights she has ever participated in.
"Have faith in them. Have faith in Sora and Mr. Magnus. I feel their presence alone can still win them the battle," Ozpin said as he looked Glynda straight into the eyes. After a few seconds of an intense staredown, Glynda relented as she looked back to her Scroll pad, watching the big red dot converge into the temple.
As the students continued celebrating, none of them really noticed the ground beginning to rhythmically shake; as if a large four-legged animal was coming straight at them. Charlemagne slowly stood up to find where the source of the shaking was while a few people from the group noticed what Charlemagne was doing.
"Hey Charlie, is something the matter?" Pyrrha asked.
"I feel something is coming, this might be bad. I think we needa get out of here quick—!" He never got the chance to finish that sentence when an abysmally loud roar echoed through the clearing followed by a mass of black charging straight towards Charlemagne. The roar made everyone cover their ears momentarily and amidst the confusion a black mass was charging straight towards Charlemagne. Unfortunately for the man, he was not prepared enough to evade the jaw that scooped him up as the Mishipeshu continued its direction.
"Charlie!" Everyone was in shock as they began chasing the Mishipeshu as fast as possible. The beast was unbelievably fast for its size, so it took more than running to catch up with it. Ruby using her speed Semblance, Sora with Flowmotion, Yang propelling herself with shotgun rounds, Blake swinging around, and Weiss summoning Glyphs in front of herself and everyone else without some sort of easy speed boost to run faster. After trekking through the forest, they were met with a sort of big ruins on a cliffside, towering above a massive ravine. That is when the Mishipeshu began to slow down.
Ruby got ahead of the whole group to see if Charlemagne was ok and what she saw made her relieved. He managed to hold the jaws at bay using two winged javelins to keep the jaws pried open as he held on to one of the fangs to not fall off. As the Mishipeshu halted, it lashed its head around and Charlemagne was thrown off to the direction of the group. As he fell onto the ground, he made a combat roll to even out the momentum and was on his feet with no injuries.
"W-woahh! That was so scary! That big cat thing just swooped in out of nowhere and decided to choose me as its toy!" Charlemagne angrily said as he pointed his sword towards the Grimm.
"That isn't just any cat thing… i-it's a Mishipeshu." Blake couldn't help but slightly be fearful as she slowly raised Gambol Shroud in katana form. "Even a young one such as this is more dangerous than the Nevermore and Death Stalker combined."
"Well then what should we do?" Ren asked.
"I think we have no other choice but to fight it," Charlemagne answered.
Sora summoned Shooting Star again and got into a battle stance, "We have to stop this thing, here and now!"
A fired up Yang bumped both of her fists together, "Alright! Let's send this kitty to the pound!"
Before they had the chance to charge at the Grimm, it let out another loud roar, but this time it was calling out to something. Not long after, a swarm of small Taijitu began appearing and heading towards the group. This made Ren gulp.
"At least they aren't the mature ones."
All the students proceeded to charge forward to meet the wave of Taijitu. Attacking and defending in any way they could, they progressively made work of the swarm. The Mishipeshu observed the battle as it turned its head towards Weiss, who was occupied with fighting off some Taijitu. The large Grimm decided to target her for its next attack. Opening its maw, something began to charge within the mouth. This is something Jaune and Pyrrha noticed before running to Weiss.
"Weiss!" The girl turned her attention as she finally saw what was happening and by the time the other two got to her and put their shields up, a stream of high-pressure water shot out of the mouth of the Mishipeshu and collided with the shields. They nearly got blown back by the force, but held strong. Even after blocking the shot, their Auras took a hit as they flickered their respective Aura colors before they subsided. There was no doubt in their minds that one shot would've done more than just break their Aura. As the rest of the Taijitu were disposed of, the Mishipeshu made a defiant roar before approaching the group.
"Here it comes!" Ruby flourished her scythe before embedding it to the ground to shoot fire Dust rounds. The shots did not impede the charging Grimm as it pounced on the group. Everyone jumped out of the way but the Grimm's surprising speed proved itself when it made a 360 degree sweep with its tail. While Sora, Charlemagne, and Pyrrha were prepared and vaulted over the tail, everyone else was knocked off their feet. Blake notably fell over the edge of the ravine, scaring some of the others, but she quickly threw her sickle to latch onto something and swung up to one of the towers.
As she got up, Ruby looked at the ruins before making a suggestion. "Hey guys! We should go deeper into the ruins!"
"Huh?! They look unstable!" Weiss said as she deflected a paw away with a Glyph while Nora retaliated with knocking the paw even further.
"Trust me! We can think of something to use to our advantage!"
As the others began running further into the ruins, Weiss begrudgingly did so too. To their surprise, the Mishipeshu was tailing them on the bridge. With a surprising amount of control, the Mishipeshu was able to traverse the bridge (being narrow compared to the Grimm) without compromising the structural stability.
"Of course that big ass cat can do that!" Yang screamed. She and the others shot out various Dust rounds to slow it down. While it did little to slow it down, they were able to run to various parts of the ruins to spread out.
"You mind sharing what you have in store?" Sora went up to Ruby as the Mishipeshu made its way to them.
"It's crazy and we might have to do a bit of renovation to this place."
"Well that's splendid!" Jaune said sarcastically. They couldn't think of something else, so they decided to let Ruby run it. The Grimm stopped for a second before charging another water shot. Ruby confirmed her suspicions that the Mishipeshu had to stay in place while charging the shot. It completed the charge as it shot one of the towers down. Ren, Blake, and Weiss were forced to jump off the tower as they used the falling rubble to traverse to another elevated place. Ruby then had a lightbulb that lit up.
"I got it! Let the Grimm get to the center area and make it stay there while some of us prepare the big finale!" Ruby said as she dashed around to inform everyone.
They continued to combat the Mishipeshu as it progressively made its way to the center of the ruins, where it wasn't narrow. When it got to the center, the Grimm had more space to attack so it started using more wide sweeping attacks. A back-paw strike attempted to strike Charlemagne but the man jumped over the paw and while running along the arm made a few cuts, noting how the ankles were mainly protected by the bone scales.
"Let's weaken the armor on the legs!" Charlemagne said as he sidestepped to avoid being mauled by the oversized claws before summoning his mace and twirling to build up force before striking the elbow scales. That cracked the armor a considerable amount as Charlemagne was certain another strike will expose the joint.
The hard hitters started targeting those joints while everyone else started to distract the Grimm with barrages of Dust rounds. While it was occupied with Weiss shooting Lightning rounds on its face, Yang got to the right rear ankle and unleashed a full barrage of shotgun-powered punches before whittling away the scales to reveal the ankle. She backed off before the Mishipeshu could kick her away. Sora kept shooting Fire projectiles on the other rear ankle, Firaga being a bit much so to cause no suspicion Sora stuck with the lower-tier spells for now. Not only did it agitate the Mishipeshu, but the heat made the bone weaker so one good swing of the Keyblade chipped enough scales to expose the ankle. Working with the left-frontal ankle, Nora accidently got hit by one of Weiss' stray Lightning rounds. But that proved to be beneficial when Nora got a burst of energy (thanks to her Semblance) and grinned like a mad woman. A gleeful warcry and one good swing from Magnhild was all it took to completely shred the scales off.
By the time the Grimm realized what the students were doing, Charlemagne already capitalized on an opportunity when the Grimm checked on its other ankles. He swung his mace again to clean the last ankle of its scales. "Yes!" Charlemagne landed before noticing in a desperate attempt, the Mishipeshu attempted to bite Charlemagne's head off. "NOT AGAIN!"
He was luckily saved from a second encounter with the big fat jaws. Pyrrha and Jaune kept the lower jaw at bay while Ren and Yang kept the upper jaws pried open. To add some internal damage, Yang shot Fire rounds into the mouth of the beast.
"I. Hope. You're. Hungry!"
This got the Mishipeshu really pissed as it swung its head around to knock the students off. It clearly felt the fire that Yang sent into its body. The water within its body churned to cool down the interior of its body, but that also made the water more violent as it opened its maw charge up a water shot; this looking a lot more violent than last time. This was the cue that Ruby looked for.
"Sora, now!" Ruby signaled.
Unbeknownst to the Grimm, Sora ran along the back of the Grimm and jumped from its head and right in front of the jaw. He already transformed Shooting Star into the dual arrow-guns as he was upside down and aiming both guns at the jaw, specifically the water build-up.
"Take this!" Sora declared as he shot out Thunder projectiles. Each gun shot out a handful as they made contact with the water. Ruby, Weiss, and Pyrrha also shot a Lightning round once Sora fell below the jaw. The excess water allowed the lightning to course through the entire body of the Mishipeshu. Convulsing from all the electricity, the Mishipeshu shriek in agony as it was rooted in place.
"The ankles!" The more agile combatants (Ruby, Ren, Blake, and Weiss) quickly went to each ankle and gave them a good slice before retreating. As the Mishipeshu fell to its own weight, Charlemagne summoned four winged javelin, which was his limit, and had each javelin pin a paw down.
"You guys head back to the forest! I can hold these for another minute!" Charlemagne had to stay within a certain range of his javelins. The others complied and sprinted towards the forest. Once they crossed the bridge, Weiss went up to Ruby to continue questioning the full plan.
"So with this plan of 'renovating' the place, did you really have to make us waste ALL of our Fire Dust?" Not only did Weiss have to give up all of her Fire Dust, but so did Pyrrha, Nora, and Blake.
"Hey, after what Sora said was true, why not? Weiss, prepare an escape route for Charlie! Sora, end it with a bang!" Ruby ordered.
"Yeah, end it with a Yang!"
"Not helping, Yang!" Sora said as he prepared the second transformation of Shooting Star. He held one gun up as it began to expand and become bigger. The other gun converged as they combined to make one single rocket-launcher looking firearm. He took aim at the center base of the ruins where Charlemagne and the Mishipeshu were. At a closer glance, the base and the bridges around the base were covered in Fire Dust. "Charlie, get out now!"
The man heard as he despawned the javelins and sprinted off the edge, but soon landed on a solid platform via Weiss' glyph as more spawned in front of him to rush back to the forest. Once Charlemagne was a safe distance away, Sora fired a shot from the Magic Launcher towards the Mishipeshu. What resulted as a little more than a firework show. All the Fire Dust created a chain reaction as bridges collapsed and towers fell. The base held true as the Mishipeshu felt all the explosions around it. Only after no bridges connected the base to anything did the base start to crumble under the weight of Mishipeshu and the sustained damage from explosions. As the base finally broke apart and fell into the ravine, so did the Mishipeshu as it fell down roaring its last roar.
"W-we did it…" Blake tiredly said as everyone slumped as they either sat or laid on the ground to get a breather while Charlemagne finally cleared the gap. Sora desummoned his Keyblade and his clothes reverted back to its original color scheme. He noticed Charlemagne run up to him as he finally caught up. They looked at the others for a second before back to each other.
"Good work. Here's to four years of awesomeness!" Charlemagne said as he held up a fist.
"Here's to four years!" Sora returned the statement and fistbumped Charlemagne.
In the distance on top of the cliff, a Seer Grimm observed the entire thing unnoticed.
"Russel Thrush. Cardin Winchester. Dove Bronzewing. Sky Lark. The four of you retrieved the black bishop pieces. From this day forward, you will work together as Team CRDL, led by... Cardin Winchester!"
A clapping ovation echoed in the auditorium as Team CRDL stepped off the stage for the next group of students. Their faces then flashed on the screen.
"Jaune Arc. Lie Ren. Pyrrha Nikos. Nora Valkyrie. The four of you retrieved the white rook pieces. From this day forward, you will work together as Team JNPR. Led by… Jaune Arc!"
"H-huh? Led...by?" Jaune was purely confused.
In the back of the line, Sora leaned towards Charlemagne. "Hey, looks like Team Jaune is a reality." Both boys had a good laugh.
"Congratulations, young man." Ozpin replied with amusement. Team JNPR stepped down as the next team came up.
"Blake Belladonna. Ruby Rose. Weiss Schnee. Yang Xiao Long. The four of you retrieved the white knight pieces. From this day forward, you will work together as Team RWBY. Led by... Ruby Rose!"
"Whaa?" said a shocked Ruby.
"I'm so proud of you sister!" Yang bear hugged her sister as Blake looked on with mild amusement. Weiss, however, looked extremely offended. Team RWBY walked off the stage as the last two students walked up the stage, confusing almost everyone in attendance.
"This year calls for a slight change in culture. The two that stand before you are additions to the original first-year student body. Not only have they displayed amazing individual prowess, but an ability to work together efficiently in a two-man setting and with full teams. With this they are an elite team who will work their own assignments and will sometimes accompany other teams. You two have retrieved the exclusive opal king piece. Sora. Charlemagne Magnus. From this day forth, you will work together as co-leaders of Team King!"
A standing ovation was given to Team King. Both boys were astounded to work under the title of an elite team. Not only would they do their own work, but they could also work with Teams RWBY and JNPR when the situation called for it.
Ozpin observed the development with a grin. "It looks like things are shaping up to be… an interesting year."
The view pans through a dark throne room, where it ends up behind the throne. A Seer Grimm is seen by the side of the throne before slowly making its leave. The sound of a finger tapping on the arm rest can be heard resonating in the room.
"Very interesting indeed…"
Btw, if you want to know what Charlemagne looks like and how he fights, search up something like "fate/extella link charlemagne moveset" on Youtube
Sure some of you noticed I slightly changed the title of the story. I noticed that there's another story that goes by a very similar title named "Kingdom Hearts: Remnant". As you can see the only difference was that mine just added "Grimm", so now I just changed the title of this story to "Kingdom Hearts: Grimm Link" just to avoid any possibility of blame saying I kinda stole the name of a pre-existing fanfic. Also I did remember in the beginning of this chapter that chapters here on average won't be as long as the first chapter. Well this was about the same length lol so maybe it's just easy for me to overwrite plus I had a lot of spare time to write this chapter. Over time, I might be busier so updates won't be as fast as what I just did for Chapter 2.
So, the gang is officially students at Beacon. You got the core Team RWBY and Team JNPR, and now our brand new elite Team King. A few of you did ask from last chapter if Sora and Charlemagne are nerfed or such powerwise. My answer is no because even when Sora finally saved Kairi and disappeared from Destiny Islands, he was still able to fight Yozora with everything he has obtained. It seems like he only lost the power of waking (what Chirithy says implies such too). Charlemagne is in a similar state as Sora where they are laying low. Both of these characters are pretty powerful so I feel when you put them in the RWVY-verse, they can do what a 4-man team can do by themselves. I do have a Charlemagne in Remnant origin story in the works and I do want to implement it within Volumes 1-2. Someone did ask if this was Nasuverse Charlemagne and like I just said he's in a very similar deal with Sora, so take your guess on that :). I also don't have set pairings yet for this story because I want to take my time solidifying this adaptation.
So I'm still doing the Watchmen-style title references, but no one notified me of guessing the last chapter's title correct, but I sorta think I was being way too vague there. This chapter's title should be much easier. Normally I would provide a hint, but this one seems pretty easy. PM me your answer or do it in the reviews before I finish writing the next chapter and I will give the people who answered correctly a shout out!
Until next time!
Re-Eternal
